I will commence discussion on this subject matter with famous quotes from George Orwell “Animal Farm” published in 1945;
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.”
Poverty is a dreadful word that depicts a serious picture of lack of neccesity of life to humanity. Poverty in the real sense of understanding, is beyond insufficient money but lack of ability to make resources work for the optimal benefit of the populace.
According to the world Bank definition of poverty. “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter, poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read, poverty is not having a job. Poverty is having fear for the future”
In a Very succinct way , poverty is a complex societal and worldwide issue that requires everyone’s attention. Poverty is of mindset
All stakeholders in the society need to work together to provide window of opportunities for all to make use of our potentials to the fullest so that we can help one another in the society but when this is lacking then chain of poverty will continue to grow.
Poverty is a generational issue because research findings have established the fact that poverty is often passed from one generation to the other due to lack of vision and commitment to break the chains of poverty coupled with the wicked and lack of policy direction of government to provide neccesary tools that can break the poverty jinx of its citizens.
What is Poverty?
In simple terms, poverty is not having enough money or access to resources to enjoy a decent standard of living; be that the lack of access to healthcare, education or water and sanitation facilities etc.
Historically, poverty in the Nigeria can be defined as either primary and secondary in studies
Lack of affordable housing causes cycle of poverty ; education healthcare, housing crisis, humanitarian crisis , poverty of urban development, water and sanitation
Primary poverty means not having enough money to meet basic needs. It can also be considered as ‘living below the poverty line.’
Secondary poverty is when people earn just enough money to afford the necessities. But, they spend part of it on “coping mechanisms” to deal with financial and work-related stress. (high risk and/or difficult working conditions due to abuse and long hours) and therefore end up struggling to make ends meet
Not having access to healthy food, decent housing, electricity, water means you effectively live in severe, absolute poverty. And the cost of these things is too high for you to afford them, or at least you can’t afford them all. So, which one do you prioritise?
That’s why finding a definition of relative or absolute poverty isn’t simple since it doesn’t just involve economics, but it is also affected by society and politics.
For this reason, is poverty a measurable concept? And if yes, should we measure it using a relative approach or an absolute one?
In the real sense of scientific approach absolute poverty is when household income is below a certain level. This makes it impossible for the person or family to meet basic needs of life including food, shelter, safe drinking water, education, healthcare, etc.
In this state of poverty, even if the country is growing economically it has no effect on people living below the poverty line. Absolute poverty compares households based on a set income level. And this level varies from country to country depending on its overall economic conditions.
Relative poverty is when households receive 50% less than average household incomes. So they do have some money but still not enough money to afford anything above the basics. This type of poverty is, on the other hand, changeable depending on the economic growth of the country.
Relative poverty is sometimes described as “relative deprivation” because the people falling under this category are not living in total poverty. They are not, however, enjoying the same standard of life as everyone else in the country.
Relative poverty is a form of social exclusion
On the whole, poverty is about exclusion. In its most extreme form, it’s the inability to access what you need for a decent life. Relatively speaking, in more developed countries, it’s being excluded from what constitutes normal daily life.
However, the recent pronouncement made by an agency Federal Government; the National Bureau of Statistics that 133 millions of Nigerians, out 200 million Nigerians as declared by National population Commission in recent past, are multidimensionally poor was another issue that jolted the political leadership because of various funds they claimed to have been deployed to make life meaningful to the populace, although on paper, because in reality it has never been felt positively by Nigerians.
Statistically , by the population projection for year 2022 we have 220,544.264 million Nigerians ,the official population figure stands thus; 60.45% (133 million)Nigerians are multidimensionally poor, the remaining 39.55% are undefined. I am very sure that 10% out of the 39% are our political and other rulers at the different levels, another 10% are the business operators: oil magnates, bankers manufacturers etc the remaining 19.55% are the citizens groping in the dark to find their feets in a country where they are bonafide citizens.
Conversely, over 80% Nigerians are multidimensionally poor with the recent development in Nigeria
How do Nigerans want to contend with the official revelation by the Federal Government agency other than to appreciate the agency for doing a thorough research.
For instance , it was established that 63 per cent of Nigerians are poor due to a lack of access to health, education, and living standards, alongside unemployment and psychological shocks.
The research offers a multivariate form of poverty assessment, identifying deprivations across health, education, living standards, work and emotional shock
According to the Statistician-General at the NBS, Semiu Adeniran, it is the first time they will conduct a standard multidimensional poverty survey in Nigeria.
“The survey was implemented in 2021 to 2022 and it is the largest survey with a sample size of over 56,610 people in 109 senatorial districts in the 36 States of Nigeria,” he said.
The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, who revealed the findings from the report said 63 per cent of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor meaning that they are being derived in more than one dimension of the four measured.
He said, “Multidimensional poverty is more pronounced in rural areas where 72 per cent of people are poor compared to urban areas where we have 42 per cent.
“Gender disparity continues to affect the population with one in seven poor people living in a household in which a man has completed high school but the woman has not.
It was conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). Consequently, the research was well syndicated by concerned stakeholders in human capital development
The 133 million figure was based on Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) with five components of health, living standard, education, security and unemployment.
The survey, which sampled over 56,000 households across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, conducted between November 2021 and February 2022, states that 65 per cent of the poor Nigerans; 86 million people, live in the North, while 35 percent, nearly 47 million live in the South.
Our own President Muhammadu Buhari said the index was adopted because it provides ways poverty could be identified and tackled with policies, although Mr President was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari at the event where this revelation was made.
“over half of the population of Nigeria are multidimensionally poor and cook with dung, wood or charcoal, rather than cleaner energy. High deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, time to healthcare, food insecurity, and housing.” the report revealed
“In general, the incidence of monetary poverty is lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most states. In Nigeria, 40.1% of people are poor according to the 2018/19 national monetary poverty line, and 63% are multidimensionally poor according to the National MPI 2022.”
The poverty index in Nigeria is alarming compared to available resources in the country that are in hands of the few people; these resources can take good care of all citizens.
Looking at the available ratio analysis , it will give an average patriotic Nigerians heartache, because ordinarily we should not be poor but we should be prosperous.
Officially , more than 80 Million Nigerians Are Extremely Poor – Living on Less Than N400 Per Day
With a staggering population of over 200 million people, over 80 million Nigerians live in poverty. This is according to the Nigerian Living Standards Survey report published by the National Bureau of Statistics. The recently published data indicates that 40.09 percent of Nigerian are poor. Whereas the poverty rate in urban areas is only 18.04 percent, as much as 52.1 percent of rural dwellers are poor.
It is expedient to copiously put into perspective the report of National Bureau of Statistics which revealed that over 44 percent of the states in Nigeria have poverty ratio of over 50 percent. by implication, over half of the population in 16 of the 35 states and the FCT live in poverty.
There is no gainsaying in the fact that Poverty limits access healthy living and declines productivity.
To crown it all, poverty in Nigeria is characterized by worsening health standards, limiting access to education and deteriorating living standards. While four in every ten Nigerians are poor, quality of life is also tending towards negativity. Thus, hopes of the Nigerian masses appear unpredictable. As Nigeria battles its poverty crises, the country is also experiencing increasing growth in insecurity, violence, and crime. With rising levels of poverty, Nigeria’s security may continue to be hampered.
Also, poverty retards human health which in turn limits productivity , workers are affected in this regard. .
From the NLSS survey report, it is important that the government rethink its poverty reduction strategy. It needs to develop more effective solution packages. In doing this, the government should understand that poverty is a structural problem and that there is a need for synergy between the social and economic sub-systems to achieve real changes. Synergy between Federal Government and Private sector partnership, as well as coordination between the national and subnational governments, can also help to improve the poverty outlook.
What are the impacts of the repatriated funds looted by our previous political leaders on the populace ?
For instance, “the United States department of Justice recently repatriated more than $20.6 million Worth of assets linked to former Head of State the late General Sanni Abacha and his associates
Also, the attorney General of the Federation Alhaji Malami aknowledged the fact that the Federal Government has received one billion Dollars since 2015, with these funds, citizens of Nigeria are yet to feel the positive impact
With the variations in poverty levels across states and geo-political zones, a uniform poverty alleviation strategy might not produce desired results.
Rather, poverty reduction strategies should be developed to have state and regional outlook. This would improve effectiveness and ensure that proposed solutions meet specific local needs.
According to projections by the World Bank Organization, over 90 million Nigerians will be poor by 2022 and by now we have 133 million Nigerians that are already poor. This is an indication that there is leadership and followership failure.
How do we explain a situation where 50kg bag of rice now sells for over N40,000; far above minimum wage, not to talk of other variables, fuel scarcity is endless and high cost of other consumables are beyond the reach of the masses.
The recent happenings in Nigeria have revealed that leaders want to deliberately deal ruthlessly with the vulnerable Nigerans, the hardship is beyond endurance.
However, due to the pandemic, the projected population of Nigeria has risen to 133 million people. Nigeria’s poverty reduction is said to be hampered by sluggish development, low human capital, labour market flaws, and shock vulnerability, according to a recent World Bank report titled “A Better Future for All Nigerians: Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022.”
Details from the report, which is the most recent evidence on the profile and drivers of poverty in Nigeria, show that 6 in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line. Many Nigerians, particularly in the north, lack access to education and basic amenities like power, safe drinking water, and improved sanitation. Similarly, jobs do not translate Nigerians’ hard work into a way out of poverty because the majority of employees are employed in small-scale domestic farms and non-farm companies; only 17% of Nigerian workers work in wage employment that can raise people out of poverty but economic hardship has rendered the wage earning workers to beggers.
Available records revealed that Nigeria has the highest proportion of impoverished people in Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing Nigerians out of poverty is critical to “changing the status quo” and eliminating global poverty. Many people advocate the adoption of a multidimensional approach to address this problem that has plagued Nigeria for years.
How can we provide sustainable modules that can alleviate Poverty in Nigeria. ?
Honestly , to get out of this mess are not far fetched . Federal Government and other stakeholders such as non governmental organizations, community based organizations, Faith based organizations and development Policy partners should join forces together with clear cut policy direction and adopt workable solutions as suggested below:
- Increase in Literacy Rate and Skill Development: Nigeria has one out of every five out-of-school children in the world, according to UNICEF, with the situation in Northern Nigeria appearing to be even worse. According to data from October 2018, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children. This lack of human capital development invariably results in poverty.
High-quality education can provide a long-term solution to poverty in Nigeria. It has been ascertained that high-quality education boosts economic efficiency by increasing the value and efficiency of the labour force, thereby helping the people escape poverty.
This singular reason was why Federal Government must be sensitive enough not to allow strike action in our tertiary institutions: the last eight months strike action by ASUU and Federal Government was a misnomer. Sadly , the matter is still dragging.Hence. Federal Government must be faithful to agreement.
- Economic Diversification (we should drift from consuming economy to producing economy): Economic fragility due to an over reliance on oil revenue is another important reason for the rising poverty levels in Nigeria. As such, diversifying economic activities is critical to give possibilities for Nigerians while maintaining economic stability.
Poverty reduction can be stimulated by diversifying the Nigerian economy and enhancing value addition in the agriculture sector. The agriculture sector currently employs 70% of the country’s workforce, but by growing it, the government will be able to give even more specialized jobs, allowing individuals to advance up the employment ladder.
*. Expand Economic Opportunities and Embrace Technology through amenable policy guide to small scale business enterprise: To eradicate poverty in Nigeria, the country’s economic production and prospects for its population must because improved. This will entail boosting financial access and possibilities for women and young people in rural communities, as well as advancing technology innovation.
To achieve this, the Nigerian government needs to invest in job-creation strategies like rebuilding infrastructures and other widespread investments that create jobs, revitalize communities, and boost its national economy. Similarly, the government can help boost job growth by unlocking private-sector collaborations through incentives and social impact bonds, as well as strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems, as has been proven in other nations.
Furthermore, access to microfinance has also been shown to lessen poverty around the world, despite its limits. While there are good justifications for using grants and other forms of social assistance to support those who are poor, it is critical to integrate people into the financial system so that governments may better plan and integrate services for the poorest of the poor.
Although financial inclusion is increasing in Nigeria, penetration in the country’s impoverished rural areas remains low.
- Invest In Healthcare: As Nigeria continues to struggle with several crippling health indicators, people are being forced into abject poverty every year as a result of needing to spend money on health conditions. To alleviate poverty, we must take advantage of demographic dividends by investing in health and well-being, particularly for our youth.
In a situation where citizens can not have access to affordable health care, most of tertiary, secondary and primary health care facilities are now mere consulting clinics hence our leaders now embark on medical trip to foreign countries.
As such, Nigeria’s basic healthcare system should be strengthened by the federal government. It is worth noting that increased healthcare investment is linked to economic growth as well as poverty reduction.
- Invest In Girls’ , Women’s and Gender Empowerment: Out of the over 10 million children out of school in Nigeria, around half of them are girls. Educating girls and women empowerment has been shown to have both economic and intergenerational benefits. Gender equality boosts household earnings and improves children’s ( both girls and boys) opportunities and well-being, which is a sensible strategy to eliminate poverty for future generations as well as our own.
- Fight Against Corruption: With corruption deeply rooted in Nigeria’s system and the absence of penalties for corrupt public officials, the resultant effect has been the diversion of funds intended for development projects, leading to inadequate infrastructure development and social welfare, as well as poverty.
Fighting corruption is a step in the right direction to rid the nation of its rising poverty levels, and to curb corruption, a comprehensive anti-corruption campaign and strong fiscal oversight are required. Unlike education, which reduces poverty over time, fighting corruption has an immediate impact on poverty reduction.
How can one time Accountant General of the Federation in Nigeria single handedly embezzle N109 billion Naira in Federal Government coffer.?
h,. Redistribution of resources : This essentially means that high-income earners (especially the political elite) will have to cut their pay and allowances reduced, while low- and middle-income workers will see their pay and allowances increased. This will increase overall productivity by increasing demand, which will lead to more jobs and a decrease in poverty.
- . Invest In Infrastructures and industries: Infrastructure investment is one strategy to help the country establish a more integrated economy, which can help to alleviate poverty. Providing reliable power, a rail network, good roads, pipe-borne water, and intervention in mass housing projects, would stimulate economic activity and empower more Nigerians.
It is axiomatic to state that poverty is primarily a societal issue rather than a personal one, society must address it critically, comprehensively, and concurrently from all fronts. Various economic, political, social, agricultural, and ideological policies have been proposed in acknowledgement of this. All of these initiatives, if embraced and implemented properly, are expected to significantly reduce the incidence of poverty in Nigeria and should translate to rolling plan for sustainable Policy agenda of the government with sincere implementation
2030 Projected solutions to Poverty
As poverty has become a phenomenal problem across the world and most importantly i Nigeria , how do we work toward reducing Poverty by the year 2030?
Here are a few start up points.
Below are few solutions to poverty that can guide our work in Nigeria , subharan African countries and other 24 countries around the world.
*. *WIPING OUT POVERTY THROUGH EQUITY , FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE*
One of the main causes of poverty is inequality and injustice. The systemic barriers that lead to groups of people going without representation in their communities makes them lag behind in terms of provision of resources and opportunities. In order for a community, or even a country, to alleviate poverty, all groups and identities must be involved in creating solutions.
“One of the biggest inequalities we need to address is gender inequality. According to the UN’s High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment, women’s unpaid labor adds up to $10 trillion per year — 13% of the global GDP. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, women own less than 20% of agricultural land in parts of Africa and Asia, yet make up 60% of the agricultural workforce. As former FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in 2016:”
One other important thing to note: By equality, we mean that every person must have an equality of results versus equality of resources. This must be put into front burner in order to ensure that they have all they need to succeed.
- REDUCING POVERTY WITH VIGOUR AND POLITICAL WILL
Poverty happens when a high density of inequality meets a high amount of risk.
To change the narration , we need to ensure that most vulnerable Nigerian people and communities are able to build capacity through available political will of the Federal, State and Local Governments.
- COMMITMENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Sincere commitment to climate change is very expedient as being advocated across-the- world.
World Bank revealed that, climate change could force an additional 100 million people, to the existing over 800 million into extreme poverty over the next decade without any urgent action taken.
- EDUCATION AS INSTRUMENT FOR ERADICATING POVERTY UNESCO posited that, if all students in low-income countries had just basic reading and writing skills (nothing else), an estimated 171 million people could escape extreme poverty. If all adults completed secondary education, we could cut the global poverty rate by more than half. Education develops skills and abilities, corrects some of the imbalances that come out of marginalization, and decreases both risk and vulnerability.
Some of the key areas of focus for making sure that education is truly for all involve breaking down the barriers to education: creating access to school in remote areas, supporting teachers in their work to deliver quality education, and making sure that education is available to children living in the remotest part of the communities.
Federal Government should remove education from political instrument for campaign, it should be a social instrument for measuring societal fulfilment.
- ENDING POVERTY BY ENDING HUNGER AND THIRST
Simply eating three meals a day and getting a healthy amount of calories and nutrients can go a long way to breaking the cycle of poverty. When a person doesn’t have enough to eat, they lack the strength and energy needed to work. Contaminated water can lead to debilitating illnesses.
Adequate healthcare options for all goes hand-in-hand with this solution, and represents a larger need for governments to offer the basic social protections and services to keep their citizens healthy, and give them affordable treatment options when needed
- PEACE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Ending all insecurity, kidnapping, price tag on human lives and hopellesness; means that budgets allocated to cover the cost of conflict can be used to deliver public services. It also reduces risks faced by the most vulnerable communities, and ensures that goals towards equality and inclusion can be maintained.
PROVISION OF CASH AID,
It may seem like the simplest of answers to decadence in the society ; cash provision (like trader money but with sustainable improved approach ) and microfinance are two of the best solutions to poverty.
While the traditional image of humanitarian aid such as supplies food, water, and tents, distributing cash has become more common. It’s cheaper and faster to get into a country (and can even be distributed by phone now). It also gives recipients the autonomy to make their own purchasing decisions, and supports local and national economies.
To this end, Nigeria is no longer the poverty Capital of the world but still has over 70 million people living in extreme poverty ( out of the 133 million multidimensional people ) rather 83 million Indians now live below the UN estimated poverty line of $2 in 2022.
Although, Nigeria still leads the pack of the highest people living below poverty line followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo which has estimated 67 million poor citizens, Madagascar with over 21 million and Angola with 18 million poor citizens
It is very important to begin to have a rethink on the urgent need to tackle the tide of poverty in Nigeria , so that this country can have a brighter future for both the current generation and the unborn children.
We should move to the path of posterity in Nigeria because the resources are abound with us.
Why not prosperity? why poverty in the midst of plenty and abundance?
The end to neo-colonialism shall come one day
Comrade Gbenga Olowoyo fcia fipma JP
Trade Unionist and industrial relations practitioner gbengaolowoyo3@gmail.com
08033570338